Marie Brennan has now written three books in her “Lady Trent” series, and all three feature the unique and powerful voice of Isabella Camherst, which drives stories of adventure in an Earthlike world in the Victorian age.

The latest, “Voyage of the Basilisk” (Tor, $25.99, 352 pages), is best-appreciated after reading the first two (“A Natural History of Dragons” and “The Tropic of Serpents”), because Brennan has carefully constructed a life story that clearly has several more volumes to go.

Isabella, who it is clear from the start will move on to fame and fortune, is fascinated by dragons, the only out-of-place piece in this otherwise very familiar world, but the structure of the society she lives in (Victorian England, though it’s called Scirland) will not allow her to be the scientist she wants to be.

This allows Brennan (a pseudonym for Bryn Neuenschwander) to chronicle the struggles of an intelligent, forthright young woman in a sexist society, while putting her in adventures in exotic lands while she tries to understand the biology of the various species of dragons that inhabit the world.

These first three books are similar in style and structure, but all are well-written and have the requisite dash of danger, romance and mystery. Brennan’s control of Isabella’s first-person narrative is pitch-perfect. So far, she’s published one “Lady Trent” book a year, which would mean the next one is due in 2016 — and I’m ready for the fourth installment.

“The Exile” (Tor, $15.99, 352 pages) covers more familiar ground and, like much urban fantasy, mashes together the classic world of faeries, demons, pixies and assorted mythical creatures with elements of romance novels. Sometimes, the clash of genres is simply too obvious, and the grinding of the gears is almost audible, but other times, it all works as though the two were meant-to-be lovers.

C.T. Adams’ book falls closer to working smoothly than to never getting out of second gear, as the story of Brianna Hai’s struggle to reconcile her otherworldly heritage with her desire to live a more or less normal human life on this side of the dividing line from the magical world of Fae may be predictable, but is still well-done.

This is labeled as the first book of the series, and to talk much about it would be to give a lot away, so suffice it to say that there’s palace intrigue, a burgeoning romance, plenty of action, some ruminations on the cost of leadership, and some holes in the complex plot that Adams just rolls on past. All in all, it’s a fun read and a good start for a series.

I’m also ready for the next installment of Alan Smale’s alternate history about Rome encountering the New World in the 13th century. The historical twist is that Rome didn’t fall to the various invading barbarians and maintained its supremacy — and then sent a legion to the Americas to look for gold.

The general in charge of the legion, Gaius Marcellinus, is the protagonist of “Clash of Eagles” (Del Rey, $27, 410 pages), and he encounters a little-known civilization of that era along the Mississippi River and its largest city, Cahokia. Smale does an excellent job of evoking the Native American cultures of that time (though hard archaeological data is in short supply), and he also brings a suite of characters alive — though as seems to be the case in most of these books, the romantic angles are telegraphed hundreds of pages in advance.

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